Lesson plan based on Alexander Coin
Create a fictitious newspaper article to document the travels of an ancient Greek coin.
Skills and Focus: Writing, Calculation, Analysis, Geography
Subject Area: Social Science
Thematic Connection: Money, Geography
Grade Level: Secondary School
Time Needed: 40 minutes
Objectives
• Evaluate the economic conditions that existed in ancient Greece.
• Analyze the impact Alexander the Great had on the ancient world.
Instructional Materials Needed
Stories: Who Was Alexander? and Coins in the Greek World
Activity
Explain to students that coins enable societies to exchange goods along standard units of value. Coins pass through many hands and over great distances. Therefore, the images on coins can reveal interesting information about the size of a nation’s commerce and influence.
Based on what students learn and perceive from both movies, have them write a newspaper article about the spread of Alexander the Great’s empire (335-323 BC) as documented through the fictitious travels of the Alexander coin. Articles should include information like the following:
• the standard unit of value in many Greek cities
• items the silver coin might have purchased
• whether the silver coin might have come in contact with smaller units of currency (e.g., obol, a silver coin of ancient Greece equal to one-sixth of a drachma)
• where the silver coin was minted and to what regions it traveled
• which people may have possessed the silver coin
Goals
This activity meets Illinois State Goal 15: Understand, analyze, and compare economic systems, with an emphasis on the United States.
This activity meets Illinois State Goal 18: Understand, analyze, and compare social systems with an emphasis on the United States.
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